Tim Hughes' latest Album, "Holding Nothing Back" has a great track (no. 7) entitled God of Justice, where Tim sings passionately about following the example of Jesus in serving the poor, the needy and the broken. Here's Tim's story behind the song:
God Of Justice
In June 2005, my wife Rachel and I headed off to Tanzania, to spend a week working with Tearfund, a charity based in England. Whilst there we met an amazing lady called Joyce. We visited her home in Uhambingeto, met with her family and heard her story. With no clean accessible water in the village, leaving each night at midnight with an empty container, Joyce would walk for over ten hours until she returned home at around 10am the following morning exhausted. It has been estimated that Joyce has walked the equivalent of three times around the world in the pursuit of water. The injustice of this is overwhelming. . How could that still be possible in a world today where so many of us have so much?
When I read the bible, one thing seems abundantly clear; God is passionate about the poor. Jesus made it so clear … “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (Luke 4:18) In Amos 5, God’s heart burns with anger as He rebukes a people who offer up songs of worship and other choice offerings, but trample and deprive the poor for their own selfish gain. We can’t escape the truth – God’s heart breaks for the last, the least and the lost. If I want to glorify God in all that I do, then issues of justice and the poor need to be at the core of who I am.
The Church needs to be singing about God’s heart for the poor. We need to remind ourselves that as God’s people we need to go and serve the marginalised. All of this inspired the song. It’s a worship song. It’s a justice song.
This echoes why care for the poor is a prominent part of what we, as a church, do, and it's something that we can all take part in, even in small ways here in Bury St Edmunds. There is a great review of the album on the St Andrews Bookshop website where Tim has also written the stories behind some of the other songs, so please check out the album - it should also be available on the CD desk at church. We've sung quite a few of the songs at church over the last few months and I'm sure you'll enjoy the whole album. If you would like a preview then click here for a link to MP3 samples of each track, or view this particular one on a Tearfund video at Youtube.
God Of Justice
In June 2005, my wife Rachel and I headed off to Tanzania, to spend a week working with Tearfund, a charity based in England. Whilst there we met an amazing lady called Joyce. We visited her home in Uhambingeto, met with her family and heard her story. With no clean accessible water in the village, leaving each night at midnight with an empty container, Joyce would walk for over ten hours until she returned home at around 10am the following morning exhausted. It has been estimated that Joyce has walked the equivalent of three times around the world in the pursuit of water. The injustice of this is overwhelming. . How could that still be possible in a world today where so many of us have so much?
When I read the bible, one thing seems abundantly clear; God is passionate about the poor. Jesus made it so clear … “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor (Luke 4:18) In Amos 5, God’s heart burns with anger as He rebukes a people who offer up songs of worship and other choice offerings, but trample and deprive the poor for their own selfish gain. We can’t escape the truth – God’s heart breaks for the last, the least and the lost. If I want to glorify God in all that I do, then issues of justice and the poor need to be at the core of who I am.
The Church needs to be singing about God’s heart for the poor. We need to remind ourselves that as God’s people we need to go and serve the marginalised. All of this inspired the song. It’s a worship song. It’s a justice song.
This echoes why care for the poor is a prominent part of what we, as a church, do, and it's something that we can all take part in, even in small ways here in Bury St Edmunds. There is a great review of the album on the St Andrews Bookshop website where Tim has also written the stories behind some of the other songs, so please check out the album - it should also be available on the CD desk at church. We've sung quite a few of the songs at church over the last few months and I'm sure you'll enjoy the whole album. If you would like a preview then click here for a link to MP3 samples of each track, or view this particular one on a Tearfund video at Youtube.
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